APOD
Astronomy Picture of the Day
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.


Airglow Sky over France
Explanation: This unusual sky was both familiar and unfamiliar. The photographer's mission was to capture the arch of the familiar central band of our Milky Way Galaxy over a picturesque medieval manor . The surprise was that on this January evening, the foreground sky was found glowing in a beautiful but unfamiliar manner. The striped bands are called airglow and they result from air high in Earth's atmosphere being excited by the Sun's light and emitting a faint light of its own. The bands cross the entire sky -- their curved appearance is due to the extremely wide angle of the camera lens. In the foreground lies Château de Losse in southwest France . Other familiar sky delights dot the distant background including the bright white star Sirius , the orange planet Mars , the blue Pleiades star cluster, the red California Nebula , and, on the far right, the extended Andromeda Galaxy . The initial mission was also successful: across the top of the frame is the arching band of our Milky Way .
What if: ChatGPT rewrote this text in the style of Shakespeare , Carl Sagan , or Scotty from Star Trek ?
| Date | February 15, 2023 |
|---|---|
| Credit | Image Credit & Copyright: Julien Looten |
| Authors & editors: | Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP) |
| A service of: |
ASD at NASA / GSFC, NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U. |

